Jaycar's new Lifetime Warranty on meters

Just got the new 2008 Jaycar catalog, looks really good, and bigger and better than usual - nice work.

One thing that caught me eye was that Jaycar are now offering a "Lifetime Guarantee" on ALL multimeters, clamp, and other meters over $20! That really is quite remarkable. I can understand it for their higher quality higher priced instruments, like the new Protek 608 and IDEAL meter, but to have it on the real cheapies is amazing.

Unless the cheapies have improved in build quality since I inspected many of them several years back now, I'd expect a lot of customers to be making good use of the warranty. At a previous company we had almost a 100% failure rate on the Digitech meters we got, and it was quite a few.

Also, in the editorial there is a little bit of reminiscing about the store and its early competition, and how they have now moved into their new warehouse at Rydalmere.

Dave.

Reply to
David L. Jones
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"David L. Jones" wrote in news:5926c8c9-06a2-4bdf-b6b7- snipped-for-privacy@i12g2000prf.googlegroups.com:

No it's not! It's no different to Seagate upping the warranty on hard disks from the 'industry standard' three years to a 'whopping' five years. The bean counters sat down and figured out that the number of people will buy the Seagate product 'cos it has 2 years extra warranty far outweighs the number of people who will return a 4-5yo HDD for a warranty claim and signed off on the longer warranty. :-)

Simple!

GB

-- .sig

Reply to
GB

Yes it is. Name anyone else who gives a "lifetime warranty" on a $20 piece of test gear.

Yes, the bean counter reasoning may be similar, but that's where the similarity ends. "Lifetime" is a lot different than 5 years. Test gear is a lot different than a consumer hard drive. People upgrade their computers every few years on average anyway, and generally use failure as an excuse to upgrade. That's why very few people would be bothered to return hard drives under warranty. But people keep multimeters for a LOT longer, and it's much easier to take the Jaycar multimeter back to any one of the 50 stores and demand a replacement when it dies or goes out of spec. And in my experience the Jaycar cheapies die with monotonous regularity.

I wonder if the same model meters purchased pre the new catalog are covered?

Dave.

Reply to
David L. Jones

(snip)

If they don't demand proof of purchase (date) then they will be ;-)

Also consider the scenario where an item is out of warranty and it fails. Go buy another, then present the failed one for replacement or (better still) refund. Heard of that being done, never tried it myself.

Reply to
rebel

AFAIK this Jaycar "lifetime" warranty on multimeters has been around for more than a year. I'm sure if you do a Google Groups search in this NG the topic has been previously discussed.

Cheers, Alan

Reply to
Alan Rutlidge

On Mar 29, 12:38 pm, "Alan Rutlidge" > take the Jaycar multimeter back to any one of the 50 stores and demand

Didn't know that. Last years catalog shows either 1 or 2 years on all the cheapies. Only the IDEAL had the lifetime warranty.

Dave.

Reply to
David L. Jones

Still waiting for you to name anyone else who gives a "lifetime warranty" on a $20 piece of test gear.

Dave.

Reply to
David L. Jones

:Just got the new 2008 Jaycar catalog, looks really good, and bigger :and better than usual - nice work. : :One thing that caught me eye was that Jaycar are now offering a :"Lifetime Guarantee" on ALL multimeters, clamp, and other meters over :$20! :That really is quite remarkable. :I can understand it for their higher quality higher priced :instruments, like the new Protek 608 and IDEAL meter, but to have it :on the real cheapies is amazing. : :Unless the cheapies have improved in build quality since I inspected :many of them several years back now, I'd expect a lot of customers to :be making good use of the warranty. At a previous company we had :almost a 100% failure rate on the Digitech meters we got, and it was :quite a few. : :Also, in the editorial there is a little bit of reminiscing about the :store and its early competition, and how they have now moved into :their new warehouse at Rydalmere. : :Dave.

Don't get sucked into believing everything you read. Just because it says "lifetime", doesn't mean a thing. Looking at it practically the item could fail

10 minutes after purchase, therefore it's "lifetime" was 10 minutes, and no doubt it would be replaced or refunded. On the other hand if it failed 5 years after purchase I would bet my last $ that the item would not be replaced or refunded, even if you did still have the receipt. Over that period the store probably would no longer carry the same item so they wouldn't replace it and the pro-rata value would be zero anyway. You could try to threaten legal action but what would be the point over a $20 item....

Anyway, consumer protection laws only say that a product must give fair and reasonable service, so 5 years would be regarded in this manner for low cost items and you wouldn't get any backup from them.

Reply to
Ross Herbert

the

They address this in the "conditions" "If that meter is not part of the product range in future we will at our option replace the meter with one of similar or superior performance." and "basically a guarantee that if the instrument fails for any reason during the course of normal use because of faulty material or workmanship, we will replace that meter."

There are no real legalese "terms and conditions" in the catalog, although they allude to them.

Not that I plan on ever buying one. I know the (lack of) quality of the cheap Jaycar meters.

Dave.

Reply to
David L. Jones

:On Mar 30, 1:18 pm, Ross Herbert wrote: :> On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:50:08 -0700 (PDT), "David L. Jones"

:> wrote: :>

:> :Just got the new 2008 Jaycar catalog, looks really good, and bigger :> :and better than usual - nice work. :> : :> :One thing that caught me eye was that Jaycar are now offering a :> :"Lifetime Guarantee" on ALL multimeters, clamp, and other meters over :> :$20! :> :That really is quite remarkable. :> :I can understand it for their higher quality higher priced :> :instruments, like the new Protek 608 and IDEAL meter, but to have it :> :on the real cheapies is amazing. :> : :> :Unless the cheapies have improved in build quality since I inspected :> :many of them several years back now, I'd expect a lot of customers to :> :be making good use of the warranty. At a previous company we had :> :almost a 100% failure rate on the Digitech meters we got, and it was :> :quite a few. :> : :> :Also, in the editorial there is a little bit of reminiscing about the :> :store and its early competition, and how they have now moved into :> :their new warehouse at Rydalmere. :> : :> :Dave. :>

:> Don't get sucked into believing everything you read. Just because it says :> "lifetime", doesn't mean a thing. Looking at it practically the item could fail :> 10 minutes after purchase, therefore it's "lifetime" was 10 minutes, and no :> doubt it would be replaced or refunded. On the other hand if it failed 5 years :> after purchase I would bet my last $ that the item would not be replaced or :> refunded, even if you did still have the receipt. Over that period the store :> probably would no longer carry the same item so they wouldn't replace it and the :> pro-rata value would be zero anyway. You could try to threaten legal action but :> what would be the point over a $20 item.... : :They address this in the "conditions" :"If that meter is not part of the product range in future we will at :our option replace the meter with one of similar or superior :performance."

I guess I am just a little cynical... I have had cause to argue a case many years ago in the Small Claims Tribunal. I did win, but overall the experience was not all that satisfactory because of all the time wasting procedures involved and the necessity to appear before the tribunal. It ended up costing me more than the claim.

Jaycar's terms sound like they are well intentioned but the devil may well be in the "at our option" bit - it depends upon an executive decision. But I dare say they would cop a lot of bad publicity if they didn't honour the condition, so it is better than a lot of other company's which don't have such terms.

:and :"basically a guarantee that if the instrument fails for any reason :during the course of normal use because of faulty material or :workmanship, we will replace that meter."

There are no ifs, buts or maybe's in the unequivocal statement "we will replace the meter". However, in the case where an internal component fails there could be an argument as to whether it was due to "abnormal" use.

: :There are no real legalese "terms and conditions" in the catalog, :although they allude to them.

All in all, Jaycar do appear to be trying to show loyalty to their customers by providing such terms and conditions regarding products they sell so I guess it will be a matter of testing them out to see how honourable they are.

: :Not that I plan on ever buying one. I know the (lack of) quality of :the cheap Jaycar meters. : :Dave.

Reply to
Ross Herbert

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